Unburdened
“Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” (1Peter 5:7)
I don’t know about you, but the past couple of weeks have felt really heavy to me. Between the busyness of open enrollment for the Resilient Career Academy, the implosion of the IAOTRC due to toxic leadership at the top of the house, the hurting/angry coaches affected by the implosion, and other family matters, I feel like I’ve been carrying a 500-pound pack on my back while trying to climb a mountain. Have you ever felt that way?
I have been courageously pushing forward, one step at a time, while my whole body has been begging for relief. As a trauma survivor, I have advanced skills in pushing through hard things and surviving because I’ve had a lot of practice. But what if part of the healing journey is learning how to lay those burdens down?
Early on in my healing journey, my therapist told me repeatedly that I didn’t have to do this alone because I needed to hear it often. When we’ve experienced trauma over long periods of time, sometimes we develop a belief that the only person we can trust and rely on is ourselves, but that belief is counterproductive in therapy/healing.
Some of us have carried the heavy burdens of trauma all our lives, and we don’t know how to lay them down, or we’re not aware that it’s possible to lay them down. They become part of us, and we just accept that this is what it’s going to be for the rest of our lives.
But our Creator never intended for us to “do life” on our own. He said, “And the LORD God said, ‘[It is] not good that man should be alone…’” (Genesis 2:18). And He never intended us to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders.
Every one of us carries the weight of responsibility for our choices/actions, but when we experience trauma, it is like someone unloading their burdens on us in addition to our own stuff…and that becomes too heavy to carry.
The Bible says that we are to “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2). I often say, “A burden shared is a burden halved.”
That burden-sharing can come through a therapeutic relationship, or it can come through our relationship with our Creator.
During today’s early morning journaling session, the Lord reminded me of 1 Peter 5:7: “Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” I was reminded that I did not have to carry these burdens alone…that I could lay them at His feet.
I realized that the redistributed burden is critical for us in the helping professions. As our clients share their burdens with us, we, in turn, can share them with the Lord…confidentially, of course :). When we don’t do that, it hinders our ability to move forward.
So, this morning, instead of putting all my cares in a container and telling myself that I would return to these later, I took those burdens to the Lord. I took off my whole backpack of burdens and cast it at His feet. And with the great relief of feeling unburdened, I leaned into His care and love for me.
It feels so good…so freeing…like a deep exhale.
For those of you carrying heavy burdens today, I encourage you to lay them down at your Creator’s feet because He cares for you. And if you do not yet know your Creator, I am happy to introduce you…simply reply to this blog, and I will connect with you.
